7 on 7 march 2019

7 on 7 is a photographic blog circle of friends posting 7 photos on the 7th of the month. Grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and walk through our circle with us. It will do your heart and soul some good.

February kept us busy recovering from Antarctica and getting around to see our kids. Seeing them is always a joy.

I’ve still yet to get through all the photos, but I thought I’d share some of the whales. We saw so many on this trip and the staff were amazed at just how many we saw. Just when you’d think it couldn’t be better than a previous sighting, there would be more, or they would be feeding, or they’d be playing. It was hard to decide between shooting photos and just being in the moment. It was something else.

We saw three species of whale: Humpback, Killer (orcas) and an Antarctic Blue Whale.

I’m a sucker for whale tails.

Humpback tail.

Backflipping killer whaleKiller whale family podThe killer whales get this yellow shade when they are covered in diatoms (which are algae). When the whales swim to warmer climates, they will shed the outer layer of skin and then we once again see the white color that we are used to seeing with these creatures. The brilliant whale researchers who were catching a ride with the trip. They gave us several great talks during our down time on the trip, sharing their knowledge and research. Humpback whales bubble feeding on krill. They will literally blow bubbles as a group to contain the krill and then come up from below to get a mouthful. Antarctic blue whale.Happy seabirds.Two humpbacks for perspective on how big the glaciers really are.

There is a cool site called Happy Whale where people can upload their photos of humpback whale tails. The tails are unique to each whale and the uploads help researchers track the movements of whales. And when someone else uploads your same whale, you get an update about where the whale is. Crowd sourcing of the data! It’s pretty cool.

Please continue around our circle with a visit to Janice. She has some beautiful winter and pining for spring photos for you. See you next month!

Renee Stengel Photography

Oh my friend!!! You saw ORCAS!?! And I thought the penguins were amazing. But to see Orcas in the wild…. Wow! Absolutely breathtaking. And my 9 year old is fascinated by your adventure. He wants to hear, read and see everything you post about it!!!